The Heiress Bride

(Completed) Adopted at a young age, Melanie Cartwright couldn't remember anything about her biological family. Her adoptive mother was a loving woman, but their lives were hard. However, things take a change for the better when she's 20 years old.

Her grandfather, a business tycoon who owned the largest music company in the United States, finally made contact with her and arranged for her to live with him. When she first moved in, she didn't realize that she would be sharing the mansion with three attractive guys. After getting to know the three, things seemed perfect...that is, until things start to get a little weird and suspicious.

Are things really always what they seem? Or are there some people who will do anything for fame?

Chapters:

A/N: Hello, my lovelies. I would just like to say thank you so
much for reading this story, especially those of you who started
reading this exactly a year ago :) Yup, this novel is already a
year old. Time flies doesn't it? I would like to send a special
shout out to those who stuck with me since day one, and I can't
begin to express how much your comments meant to me and how much
you guys motivated me to keep on writing. Thanks a billion and I
hope you enjoy reading this!! And sorry it's a short-ish chapter.
I wanted to post it today :D

Chapter Twenty-Six: Something Smells Fishy

It's been a few blissful months since I left the mansion. Life
has been pretty good since both Pierce and I left for New York,
but it is a whole different story for Blake. It's been
increasingly hard for him, and the pressure put on him by the
newspapers and critics is really getting to him. At times he is
really stressed out, he would call Pierce and I.

I sighed as I flipped through the pages of Us Weekly. I was alone
in the house right now because my mom was at the bakery and
Pierce was at school. Lying on my stomach on top of my bed, my
heart froze when my eyes landed on one page.

There he was with his head tiled back and mouth wide open, as if
he was in the middle of a big laugh. His hands were holding onto
Siri's. I could tell it was her because of her short, blond curly
hair.

Blake was in some deep shit.

I growled as I quickly reached for my phone. Before I could find
his name in my contact book, the devil himself called me.

"What the hell??" I screamed at him, skipping all the greetings.

"I can explain. It's not what it looks like," he began slowly.

"Save it, Blake. I don't really want to hear it," I snapped
angrily.

"But you need to hear my side of the story," he tried to convince
me to listen.

I huffed, "Fine. It better be a damn good excuse."

"Well," he began, pausing a little. "She set me up."

Looking at the picture again, I knew it was a candid shot. There
was no way Siri could set him up so it looked like he was
laughing like that. Threateningly, I warned him, "Don't lie to
me."

The other side of the line fell silent for another moment. I
sighed heavily as I realized Blake was lying to me.

"Okay, so I went to the beach once with her, " Blake confessed. I
sucked in a breath not believing my ears.

"Blake! What's wrong with you?" I screamed at him accusingly.

"I'm sorry, Melanie. But I was so stressed and lonely. She's
always in the mansion with me, so she makes me feel less alone.
I'm not going to lie when I say that I felt less stressful after
going on that date with her." I shook my head in disbelief. He
was the one who said that he didn't like Siri. I thought we all
agreed she was a gold digger.

"I can't believe what you are saying right now. If you felt
lonely, you could've called me or Pierce! And remember, her and
her dad are manipulative people!" I tried to knock some sense
into Blake.

"Melanie! Whenever I try calling you or Pierce, you two are
always together. I feel like you guys don't understand me at all
sometimes. You guys always have each other, and it's not like you
are completely by my side supporting me," Blake snapped back
defensively.

"Siri is not supporting you at all. She's using you," I fired
back at him.

"At least she's doing a better job at making me feel better than
you are."

I stared angrily at the phone. He did NOT just say that. That was
a low blow, and he knows it. After a minute of silence, Blake
spoke up again in a softer voice, "I'm sorry, Melanie. I didn't
mean that."

"Whatever," I knew he was sorry, but I couldn't let go of what he
said earlier.

"Please come back. I need you," he pleaded me.

I opened my eyes in shock. I didn't expect him to say that at
all, "Uhm…Blake? I'm with Pierce right now." I mumbled awkwardly.

"You're a stupid butt," Blake almost laughed into the phone. Wow,
he has mood swings like a girl during PMS. "I meant you and
Pierce. I need my friends to help me through this tough time. The
stress is just getting worse and worse."

My heart almost broke at his soft and tight voice. It was like he
was trying not to cry, "Blake, I don't know if we can come back!"
I sighed desperately.

"Why not? It can just be for a short time or something. You don't
have to move back in!"

I sucked in a breath. No matter how much I wanted to comfort
Blake, I knew I couldn't go back to the mansion, "I can't, Blake.
I made a deal with Evander. I can't go anywhere near the mansion
anymore."

"Don't worry! I can take care of that!" Blake promised in
earnest. However, I feel like he doesn't know how serious Evander
was when he said that he 'hoped to never see me again.' I sighed,
not knowing what else to say to Blake.

"You know what will be simpler? If you and Pierce can come back
and take the company from me. I don't want to run it anymore," he
sounded depressed.

"We can't do that, Blake. Deep down, you know you want to keep
the company. You just have to fight through all the pressure," I
tried to help him.

"But how can I fight it? Everyone hates me now? RM Productions
has been on a downwards trend since I took over!" Once again, he
rendered me speechless. I had no idea how to run a company, so my
advice was basically useless to him.

I heard the front door open. Looking at the time, I realized it
had to be Pierce. My heart soared as I realized Pierce could give
him better advice than I could, "Hold on for a moment." I did a
mad dash down the stairs and threw the phone into Pierces
surprised face.

"It's Blake," I muttered quietly, so Blake couldn't hear me from
the other side of the line.

Pierce put his backpack down on the kitchen chair and took the
phone from me. I walked back upstairs so I could give them more
privacy. I couldn't understand business jargon anyways. Looking
down onto my bed, the picture of Blake was still open on my bed.
Sighing, I flipped to the next page.

There he was again, and I gasped at the sight of him. I took in
the dark bags under his eyes, the hollow look of his face, and
the way his shoulders were hunched over. This was not the
confident Blake I knew. He looked tired and weak from this
picture. The caption claimed that he was not fit to be the CEO of
RM Productions, and that he was being distracted by his fling
with a blond headed girl (Siri, of course).

I rubbed my face with both my hands. I desperately wanted to help
him, but I had no idea how to. I don't know how long I was
sitting on my bed for, but after a while, I felt hands rubbing
circles on my back.

I looked up at Pierce's worry filled eyes, "Are you okay?"

"I'm just worried about Blake! Look at him!" I tossed the
magazine at him. The picture of the weak Blake was open, and I
heard Pierce suck in a breath just like I had when I first saw
the picture.

"I know, baby. Me too." He continued to soothe my worry. "I
talked to him on the phone and gave him some advice. I think he
might be better soon."

"You sure?" I asked, looking into his eyes, searching for the
truth.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Blake is a tough guy, and can make it through
this." He reassured me.

"Why isn't Chief helping at all? It's like he's just watching his
company fall to pieces!" I muttered angrily. It was already a
miracle how I haven't heard from him since I left the mansion. I
thought that running away to New York would be a futile idea, but
Chief never stopped me yet, and it's been a few months! I had an
uneasy feeling at the pit of my stomach like something wasn't
quite right.

"Maybe he's taking a step back and letting us run the scene for a
while?" Pierce mused.

"And why would he do that?" I asked him in confusion.

"Maybe he's waiting for us to mess up and come crawling back to
him?" he muttered, unable to come up with a better explanation.

"Mmhmm, sure," I muttered unbelievingly. However, I couldn't come
up with a better idea. It's not like I will call him voluntarily.
Not because I don't like him or anything, but because I'm scared
that he will force me to go back. Or that Evander will find out
and kill me somehow. Okay. Now I'm overreacting…but still.
Evander does seem capable of doing something like that…